THREAD. This morning I took a flight to Chengdu (2000km away from Shanghai) to interview Fan Xiao, a respected Chinese geologist and a long-standing critic of the Three Gorges Dam. We were supposed to talk about the environmental impact of the giant dam. 1/4

I met him, he was happy to see us but he told us that a few hours before we arrived, he received a call from the national security police. They put pressure on him and asked him not to talk to the foreign journalists. He was forced to decline the interview. 2/4

Still, he invited us to have a cup of tea in his apartment. But we were never left alone. A CCP member followed us inside and made sure that we were not interviewing him. 3/4

Fan Xiao is not a dissident, nor a human rights defender. He is « just » a geologist. Under Xi Jinping’s China, the pressure is put on everybody, even on scientists who just talk about facts. 4/4 @fccchina